| Men’s Volleyball |
|---|
| BYU — 1 |
| UCLA — 3 |
Match point, crowd on its feet.
Now in extra points, the opposing BYU Cougars had already displayed evidence of their capability to rally and prolong points.
And on a night to celebrate him and his classmates, it was none other than senior outside hitter Zach Rama who rose up to serve.
Ace.
No. 1 UCLA men’s volleyball (26-1, 13-1 MPSF) won their second consecutive match over No. 8 BYU (20-11, 7-7 MPSF) by a score of 3-1 to conclude the regular season at Pauley Pavilion on Saturday evening.
The Bruins previously defeated the Cougars in four sets just two days ago, and replicated the feat despite dropping the rematch’s first set.
The minutes before the match were filled with congratulations and sweet reflections on an extraordinary senior class adorned with national championships and individual honors.
In the minutes after set one, cheers for BYU meant the now-trailing Bruins would need a comeback.
And come back they did.
To go along with their night of honor, all five rostered seniors started and played the majority of the match. Redshirt junior opposite hitter David Decker and redshirt junior middle blocker Christopher Hersh, along with senior middle blocker Cameron Thorne and Rama, combined for 33 kills on the night.
The final senior, setter Andrew Rowan, propped up 42 of the team’s 48 assists.
Sophomore outside hitter Sean Kelly finished with a team-high 13 kills, while Rama tallied eight digs to lead the Bruins.
Unfazed by the senior night festivities, BYU pulled out a 25-21 victory in the first set. While UCLA’s attack sizzled to a hitting percentage of .409 in the set, the Cougars were flaming hot, hitting a whopping .733 for a 1-0 lead.
But it was much too good to be true for BYU.
Despite outside hitter Connor Oldani starting the game by hitting nine of nine, and eventually finishing with a game-high 16 kills, the Cougar attack tanked in the second set to a hitting percentage of .053.
Meanwhile, UCLA kept chugging at .375, buoyed by a couple clever dumps from Rowan and the energy radiated by Thorne, whose alternating lob and power serves caused fits for the Cougars. The Bruins comfortably claimed set two 25-17.
Both teams went back and forth once again in the third set, improving on the receiving end with a combined 19 digs. As an effect, both teams struggled offensively, with UCLA hitting .161 and BYU still flailing at .100.
With set three tied at 23-23, the Cougars committed two consecutive attacking errors to hand the set and a 2-1 lead to the Bruins.
Despite having an opportunity to clinch the match, UCLA had a sloppy start to the fourth set by making three straight service errors, and fell behind 9-6 before head coach John Hawks called a timeout.
Junior middle blocker Micah Wong Diallo, the typical starter in place of Hersh, was subbed into the game for the first time shortly after the timeout.
The Cougars advanced to a 24-23 set point, but couldn’t capitalize before extra points. Tied 25-25, a kill from Kelly and Rama’s ace sealed the deal for UCLA, claiming the 3-1 victory.
UCLA will embark on the road to the national championships, first with the MPSF Tournament quarterfinal round on Wednesday, April 22, at 4 p.m. PST against Concordia.
